Many companies have multiple shared appliances at different locations. The shared appliances are generally used by multiple users to obtain various resources. For example, a company may have 50 printers at different locations in multiple offices. When a user wishes to print one of his documents, the user typically enters a print command in a computing device to print the document to a specific printer. However, since the printer is often physically distant from the user initiating the printout, there is a danger that sensitive documents will be collected by some other individual either accidentally or maliciously.
To overcome this privacy concern, secure printing techniques have been created.
However, these techniques suffer from at least two potential issues: (1) handling printer jams/toner outages; and (2) exposure of credentials. In the case of paper jams or toner outages, the user arrives at the printer to discover the printer is disabled and the print job is stuck somewhere in the printing infrastructure. Since the printer is distant in time and location from the initiation and location of initiation of the print job, it is often difficult or impossible to recreate the print job for another printer. In the case of exposure of credentials, it is possible that the printer itself (particularly in an environment like a hotel or airport) cannot be trusted and entering the full user credentials would be unsafe.
Thus, a market exists for a method to provide secure access of resources at shared appliances that improves trustworthiness of each shared appliance and safeguards against access by unauthorized users.